Title: Puzzle Pieces
Chapter 4: The Previous Night (Part 1)
The previous night.
The wedding was beautiful, simple and small. Bill was so happy and his bride, a young Egyptian woman who worked as a translator for Gringotts, looked gorgeous and exotic in her traditional Egyptian wedding robes. The ceremony had been an interesting hybrid of British and Egyptian wizarding traditions and the guest list boasted people and goblins from all over the world.
The reception was held in a magical banquet room in the back of the Leaky Caldron that few people, even wizards, knew existed. The event was lovely and elegant. Good food, good champagne, good music and good company. Every one had a marvelous time.
Charlie was standing on the periphery of the party, sipping Firewhiskey and chatting amicably with the occasional guest that found their way over to shake his hand and ask about his work. Charlie was happy for Bill, he deserved this, and Nina offered Bill some much needed balance and stability that his work couldn't provide. But, Charlie was feeling melancholy. A month ago, almost to the day, was supposed to have been his own wedding. He'd been ready, more than ready, to spend the rest of his life loving Elise, his now ex-fiancée, a potions expert he worked with in Romania. Elise however, had other plans. She left him, literally, at the altar. All she'd had to say was "I do." That was it and they would have been married. Instead she dropped her bouquet, turned, and ran. Through the mass of guests she went, under the canopy the blossoming trees had provided and into the thicket at the end of the aisle.
Baffled and panicked, Charlie had followed her and found her down the small path, pressed against a large birch tree where they were to have carved their names following the ceremony, a Weasley family tradition. She was pressed against that birch tree, in the arms of Severus Snape.
The following scene hadn't been pretty. Elise had tried to explain. "Charlie I'm sorry.blah, blah, blah. We met at a potions conference.etc., etc., etc. I never meant to.yadda, yadda, yadda."
The whole thing ended with Snape in a bloody heap on the grass, Elise in tears, and Charlie in magical handcuffs. He hadn't seen either of them since, though he heard it had taken medi-wizards days to reconstruct Snape's hook nose, and that was a small comfort.
Charlie was shaken from his memory by a gentle hand on his arm. He looked down into Hermione Granger's cinnamon eyes and took another sip from his Firewhiskey.
"You okay?" she asked, concerned.
He nodded. He barely knew this girl. He'd met her a handful of times and she had always been flanked by Ron and Harry or had her nose buried in a book.
Tonight she looked different though. Grown-up. Independent. He felt the familiar stirrings of attraction, which he pushed aside. --I can't-- he thought. --Not this soon, and certainly not Hermione.--
"I'm fine." He assured her, "Just feeling pensive. Would you like to dance?" Charlie was sure he'd never know what had possessed him to ask her to dance, but as she polished off her champagne and tucked her delicate hand into his elbow he was very glad he had.
She was warm and small and her hair smelled of lilacs. The song was over too soon. She squeezed his hand, thanked him and turned to join her friends. Harry, Ron, Ginny, Fred & George were gathered around the bar, laughing. Charlie felt oddly compelled to join them so he walked in their direction.
He arrived at the bar just in time to hear the twins trying to coax Hermione into taking a shot of Firewhiskey.
"C'mon, be a sport, Hermione, the rest of us had one."
"Yeah, you were too busy making soppy goo-goo eyes at Charlie, you missed it."
At this Charlie chuckled and Hermione turned to face him. "Oy!" Charlie came to her rescue. "You blokes leave her alone. It's almost impossible to resist the Charlie Charm y'know." Everyone thought of Elise, but nobody said anything. Charlie was rarely in good spirits these days. Best not to ruin it.
Then, Hermione raised her chin and huffed. "You know, you're not as smooth as you seem to think Charlie Weasley. Don't you try to protect me. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Give me that, George." She snatched the drink from Fred and swallowed it like a pro. She chased it with the last of Harry's champagne.
Fred and George snickered mischievously, but nobody paid them any mind. They were always snickering about something.
Later, after the bouquet and garter had been tossed, the champagne bottles had all been emptied and Bill and Nina had made their departure, the small band of young people made their way into Muggle London. The wandered aimlessly for awhile and then began to go their own separate ways. Harry and Ginny disappeared down a dimly lit alley for some "alone time," Fred, George and Ron found a muggle pub full of unsuspecting muggle co-eds and decided to have a laugh or two at their expense. This left Hermione and Charlie alone at a loss as to what to do, but not yet ready to call it a night.
Charlie noticed Hermione was looking a bit peaked, and her eyes seemed a bit glazed over so he offered her his arm and they walked.
They had been walking and talking for what seemed like hours when Hermione noticed a disturbance just outside a muggle bank across the street.
"Whassat?" she asked. Her words were slurred and she still had that glazed over look that concerned Charlie. But the most important matter was that it was quite obvious the bank across the street was being robbed and currently the night watchman was being quite harshly beaten.
Charlie drew his wand and started towards the three men, followed quickly by Hermione. Charlie began throwing curses, petrifying one of the masked robbers and turning another's legs to jelly, but to his surprise the third robber drew a wand and yelled, "Expelliarmus!" before Charlie could cast a third spell. He flew backwards and landed on his back, hitting his head on the curb. He saw stars and tried to get up, but collapsed and gave up, laying his head on the cool cement.
Hermione let out an uncharacteristic yawp and ran at the third robber, wand drawn. "Immobulus!" she screeched and the robber collapsed to a heap on the ground. She stood still for a moment trying not to fall.
Charlie, having gathered the strength to raise his head, saw her teetering, ready to faint. He scrambled to his feet and made it to her side just in time to catch her before she toppled over.
He cradled her head in his arm and shook her gently back to consciousness.
Hermione opened her glazed eyes and met Charlie's green ones. "Charlie, I don't feel well." She sounded almost childlike in her present vulnerability.
The truth dawned on Charlie like a veil had been dropped. The twins. Of course! But how could they do something so dangerous and reckless?
"I think the twins spiked your Firewhiskey." He said and she fainted again.
The night watchman held a dingy handkerchief to his bleeding head and watched the whole scene with increasing wonder. If he didn't know any better he'd swear those people were using magic of some sort. --Must've been that bop on the head.-- he thought, --made me daffy.-- He got up and made his way over to Charlie and Hermione.
Charlie watched as the watchman said a few words into a contraption that had been strapped to his hip. He gathered up Hermione's wand and tucked it into her pocket.
"Is she alright?" he heard the watchman ask.
Charlie reached for his own wand, abandoned on the sidewalk. He gathered Hermione into his arms and stood, wand in hand.
"She will be. I just need to get her home. She's not feeling well."
"I'm afraid you're both going to have to come down to the station with me as speak to the police about what happened. I don't know what kind of mojo you folks were workin' but it all looks a mite suspicious to me. You can take her home after that."
Charlie raised his wand and muttered, "Obfuscate." A flash behind the watchman's eyes and any evidence of magic was forgotten completely.
TBC
Chapter 4: The Previous Night (Part 1)
The previous night.
The wedding was beautiful, simple and small. Bill was so happy and his bride, a young Egyptian woman who worked as a translator for Gringotts, looked gorgeous and exotic in her traditional Egyptian wedding robes. The ceremony had been an interesting hybrid of British and Egyptian wizarding traditions and the guest list boasted people and goblins from all over the world.
The reception was held in a magical banquet room in the back of the Leaky Caldron that few people, even wizards, knew existed. The event was lovely and elegant. Good food, good champagne, good music and good company. Every one had a marvelous time.
Charlie was standing on the periphery of the party, sipping Firewhiskey and chatting amicably with the occasional guest that found their way over to shake his hand and ask about his work. Charlie was happy for Bill, he deserved this, and Nina offered Bill some much needed balance and stability that his work couldn't provide. But, Charlie was feeling melancholy. A month ago, almost to the day, was supposed to have been his own wedding. He'd been ready, more than ready, to spend the rest of his life loving Elise, his now ex-fiancée, a potions expert he worked with in Romania. Elise however, had other plans. She left him, literally, at the altar. All she'd had to say was "I do." That was it and they would have been married. Instead she dropped her bouquet, turned, and ran. Through the mass of guests she went, under the canopy the blossoming trees had provided and into the thicket at the end of the aisle.
Baffled and panicked, Charlie had followed her and found her down the small path, pressed against a large birch tree where they were to have carved their names following the ceremony, a Weasley family tradition. She was pressed against that birch tree, in the arms of Severus Snape.
The following scene hadn't been pretty. Elise had tried to explain. "Charlie I'm sorry.blah, blah, blah. We met at a potions conference.etc., etc., etc. I never meant to.yadda, yadda, yadda."
The whole thing ended with Snape in a bloody heap on the grass, Elise in tears, and Charlie in magical handcuffs. He hadn't seen either of them since, though he heard it had taken medi-wizards days to reconstruct Snape's hook nose, and that was a small comfort.
Charlie was shaken from his memory by a gentle hand on his arm. He looked down into Hermione Granger's cinnamon eyes and took another sip from his Firewhiskey.
"You okay?" she asked, concerned.
He nodded. He barely knew this girl. He'd met her a handful of times and she had always been flanked by Ron and Harry or had her nose buried in a book.
Tonight she looked different though. Grown-up. Independent. He felt the familiar stirrings of attraction, which he pushed aside. --I can't-- he thought. --Not this soon, and certainly not Hermione.--
"I'm fine." He assured her, "Just feeling pensive. Would you like to dance?" Charlie was sure he'd never know what had possessed him to ask her to dance, but as she polished off her champagne and tucked her delicate hand into his elbow he was very glad he had.
She was warm and small and her hair smelled of lilacs. The song was over too soon. She squeezed his hand, thanked him and turned to join her friends. Harry, Ron, Ginny, Fred & George were gathered around the bar, laughing. Charlie felt oddly compelled to join them so he walked in their direction.
He arrived at the bar just in time to hear the twins trying to coax Hermione into taking a shot of Firewhiskey.
"C'mon, be a sport, Hermione, the rest of us had one."
"Yeah, you were too busy making soppy goo-goo eyes at Charlie, you missed it."
At this Charlie chuckled and Hermione turned to face him. "Oy!" Charlie came to her rescue. "You blokes leave her alone. It's almost impossible to resist the Charlie Charm y'know." Everyone thought of Elise, but nobody said anything. Charlie was rarely in good spirits these days. Best not to ruin it.
Then, Hermione raised her chin and huffed. "You know, you're not as smooth as you seem to think Charlie Weasley. Don't you try to protect me. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Give me that, George." She snatched the drink from Fred and swallowed it like a pro. She chased it with the last of Harry's champagne.
Fred and George snickered mischievously, but nobody paid them any mind. They were always snickering about something.
Later, after the bouquet and garter had been tossed, the champagne bottles had all been emptied and Bill and Nina had made their departure, the small band of young people made their way into Muggle London. The wandered aimlessly for awhile and then began to go their own separate ways. Harry and Ginny disappeared down a dimly lit alley for some "alone time," Fred, George and Ron found a muggle pub full of unsuspecting muggle co-eds and decided to have a laugh or two at their expense. This left Hermione and Charlie alone at a loss as to what to do, but not yet ready to call it a night.
Charlie noticed Hermione was looking a bit peaked, and her eyes seemed a bit glazed over so he offered her his arm and they walked.
They had been walking and talking for what seemed like hours when Hermione noticed a disturbance just outside a muggle bank across the street.
"Whassat?" she asked. Her words were slurred and she still had that glazed over look that concerned Charlie. But the most important matter was that it was quite obvious the bank across the street was being robbed and currently the night watchman was being quite harshly beaten.
Charlie drew his wand and started towards the three men, followed quickly by Hermione. Charlie began throwing curses, petrifying one of the masked robbers and turning another's legs to jelly, but to his surprise the third robber drew a wand and yelled, "Expelliarmus!" before Charlie could cast a third spell. He flew backwards and landed on his back, hitting his head on the curb. He saw stars and tried to get up, but collapsed and gave up, laying his head on the cool cement.
Hermione let out an uncharacteristic yawp and ran at the third robber, wand drawn. "Immobulus!" she screeched and the robber collapsed to a heap on the ground. She stood still for a moment trying not to fall.
Charlie, having gathered the strength to raise his head, saw her teetering, ready to faint. He scrambled to his feet and made it to her side just in time to catch her before she toppled over.
He cradled her head in his arm and shook her gently back to consciousness.
Hermione opened her glazed eyes and met Charlie's green ones. "Charlie, I don't feel well." She sounded almost childlike in her present vulnerability.
The truth dawned on Charlie like a veil had been dropped. The twins. Of course! But how could they do something so dangerous and reckless?
"I think the twins spiked your Firewhiskey." He said and she fainted again.
The night watchman held a dingy handkerchief to his bleeding head and watched the whole scene with increasing wonder. If he didn't know any better he'd swear those people were using magic of some sort. --Must've been that bop on the head.-- he thought, --made me daffy.-- He got up and made his way over to Charlie and Hermione.
Charlie watched as the watchman said a few words into a contraption that had been strapped to his hip. He gathered up Hermione's wand and tucked it into her pocket.
"Is she alright?" he heard the watchman ask.
Charlie reached for his own wand, abandoned on the sidewalk. He gathered Hermione into his arms and stood, wand in hand.
"She will be. I just need to get her home. She's not feeling well."
"I'm afraid you're both going to have to come down to the station with me as speak to the police about what happened. I don't know what kind of mojo you folks were workin' but it all looks a mite suspicious to me. You can take her home after that."
Charlie raised his wand and muttered, "Obfuscate." A flash behind the watchman's eyes and any evidence of magic was forgotten completely.
TBC